Conformity is a social influence in which an individual changes their beliefs or behaviour in order to fit in with another individual or group. This fulfils the need to feel accepted and not outcast which can increase the individuals self esteem. Conformity can be demonstrated by a change in the individual’s clothes, language or attitude etc. to adapt to the group; thus displaying the desire to be a group member. It indicates to the group that ‘I am not a threat as I am like you and following your rules’. It gives the group a sense of security as the consistency of a conformists behaviour allows members to predict what each one will do. Members of a conformist group may…
“Conforming” is when a person changes the way they act and think to fit in with the majority of people in a group to gain acceptance. Kelman (1958) said that there are 3 types of conformity, Compliance, which means going along with others to gain approval and avoid rejection and accepting the group view in public but not private. Identification is conforming to someone who is liked and respected and Internalisation is accepting the group’s beliefs and accepting it both publicly and privately. However this essay will be discussing the two main theories as to why people conform, Informational Social Influence and Normative Social Influence as well as other factors that can affect as to why people conform.…
Conformity is a form of social influence and is the tendency to copy other people's behaviour and attitudes from within a group.…
Research into conformity includes Sherif’s study conducted in 1935. The aims of his study were to study how people were influences by other people’s opinion, in their perception of the autokinetic effect. The Participants were seated in a dark room. Fifteen feet in front of the participants was a pinpoint of light that appears. Participants have to guess how far it moves. The dot doesn’t actually move but due to autokinetic effects, very small movements of the eyes make the light seem to move. Each participant developed their own personal answer, which varied considerably between individuals. Then the next day, three participants re-did the experiment, with two other participants that gave very different answers, to see if hearing other people’s answer would affect their answers. For example if a participant said it moved 6 inches when he was on his own. However when two other participants that said much less joined him, he says it moves much less than the day before. The first participants original response changes when in company of other people, this showing social influence. The…
Conformity is a form of social influence where a person adopts the behaviors, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group. Conformity is a normal process in which everybody adopts to fit in and be liked and many psychologists have completed research into these fields. Deutsh and Gerard claimed that there were two types of conformity. Normative influence is motivated by a desire to fit in with a group and be liked, and informational influence is motivated by a desire to be correct and certain.…
The concept of conformity is changing the way you think or act based on the influences around you. Religion in my opinion is an example of conformity. It’s not the belief in God that I think people conform to, it’s the way they perceive God or the beliefs that…
Social Influence what is conformity? Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. We feel the pressure of those people around us, This change is in response to real or imagined group pressure.…
Conformity is the convergence of individuals’ thoughts, feelings, or behavior toward social norms. One of the most influential conformity researchers in psychological history is Muzafer Sherif, who researched the reason why people conform. Conformity can occur for two different reasons, such as, informational influence and normative influence. Normative influence is when people want to be liked and so by being in a group they gain social approval that leads to compliance. On the other hand, informational influence is when people want to be right, so they join a group that they perceive to be correct, which leads to acceptance.…
Conformity is something that happens daily in our social worlds. Although we are sometimes aware of our behaviour, in many cases we conform without being very aware that we are doing so. Sometimes we go along with things that we don’t agree with or we behave in a way that…
The experimental procedures can all be found in the PSU Organic Chemistry Fall 2008 laboratory manual. 1…
Conformity is behavior change designed to match the actions of others. During my research, I found many examples of conformitive behavior. I often related conformity to adolescents due to the fact that they usually do their best to try and fit in when it comes to group settings. This type of behavior can be seen in college students attending educational facilities away from home. Those that are in dorms tend to indulge in drinking even if they aren’t “big drinkers”. They do this to conform to that of others and to be included in the fun and try and fit in. One last example that I will discuss prior to getting into my own observation, was the study that was done my Crandall in 1988 which examined normative social influences involving bulimia in college sororities. Sororities are the true definition of conformity and those that don’t conform are usually not allowed to continue to pledge. In the particular sororities that were examined, Crandall found that it had its own norm when it came to the “right” amount of food to eat and the popularity within the sorority was associated with adhering to this norm. Those that wanted to be a part of the sororities needed to conform to the “norm” and fell into a bulimic state. These girls had to of known this was not healthy for them yet they wanted to continue to become of part of this group and follow the “norm” that was set out. To me, this is just ridiculous.…
Different types of conformity explain why we conform or behave the way we do, whether it is the desire to liked (normative influence), by which we conform with others so they would accept us, or the desire to be right (informational influence), by which we believe others evaluation of the situation is more accurate. The influence of others can either be real or imagined and can also progress from conformity, to compliance (taking direct requests from others), or obedience (obeying an authority…
The causes of conformity among individuals have long been debated and researched in recent decades. It is for this reason that conformity is an intriguing psychological concept. It causes sound-minded individuals to go against their best judgement, to engage in behaviour which they usually would not engage in, even accept and welcome an idea they internally disagree with, all in order to not be a deviant from the group. It is thus interesting to look at the factors which cause people to conform, to do what they see others doing, to rely on the judgements of the group, and to ignore their own senses and perceptions. It is the reasons for the individual's desire to conform that I will be discussing in this paper.…
The Mexican peso has weakened considerably relative to the dollar, and you are trying to decide whether this is a good time to invest in Mexico. Suppose the current exchange rate of the Mexican peso relative to the U.S. dollar is MXN9.5/USD. Your investment advisor at Goldman Sachs argues that the peso will lose 15% of its value relative to the dollar over the next year. What is Goldman Sachs’s forecast of the exchange rate in 1 year?…
What people value the most may become apparent in everyday business and communications. As individuals and leaders we have a moral responsibility to those we influence on a daily basis. We must take into consideration how we interpret our own values and how those values impact others. According to Robbins and Judge (2007, p. 121), questioning our values may result in change. In addition, values are important because they lay the foundation for the motivation and attitudes of people can contribute to the achieving of an organization’s goals and objectives. We must be ethical in our leadership especially when employees are following our moves and motives. Managers are responsible for the well being of the employee, the customer, and the organization as a whole. We have to follow the same codes of conduct that we expect employees to follow. We have to be responsible and accountable for our actions. How well we manage an organization depends upon how well we know our roles and responsibilities.…